Vacuum cleaner nozzle and attachment



Dec. 25, 1962 A. H. SMITH 3,069,716

VACUUM CLEANER NOZZLE AND ATTACHMENT Filed Feb. 11, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet1 1962 A. H. SMITH 3,069,716

VACUUM CLEANER NOZZLE AND ATTACHMENT Filed Feb. 11, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet2 United States Patent 3,069,716 VACUUM CLEANER NOZZLE AND ATTACHMENTAaron H. Smith, Ipswich, Mass, assignor to Signal Manufacturing (30.,Salem, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Feb. 11, 1960, Ser.No. 8,087 2 Claims. (Cl. 15-371) This invention relates to vacuumcleaners and has for its principal objects to provide apparatus forpicking up solids, on the one hand, and fluids, on the other hand, and,in particular, for picking up liquids without leaving tracks or tracesof moisture along the path of movement; to provide an attachment for usewith a suction head of conventional construction whereby it may beemployed to pick up liquids without lessening its utility for picking upsolids; and to provide an attachment for the foregoing purposes which iseasy to apply and remove and does not require modification of the headfor attachment thereto.

As herein illustrated, the apparatus comprises a suction head containinga narrow uptake passage having a long, narrow intake opening at itslower end and a lateral opening at its upper end for communication withthe intake tube of the cleaner. A thin, flat blade is disposedlongitudinally of the intake opening midway between its front and backwalls, with a portion secured within the opening and another portionextending from the opening for contact with the floor. The lower portionof the blade is adapted to move relative to the front and back walls ofthe opening in a direction opposite to the direction of movement acrossthe floor and, by such movement, partially to restrict the opening atthe side toward which it moves. Movement of the lower portion of theblade may be a flexing of the blade itself, or the blade may be mountedfor pivotal movement about its upper edge, so as to swing forwardly andrearwardly with reference to the front and back walls. Preferably theblade is mounted for vertical movement within the opening against meansyieldably resisting such movement. While the blade may be permanentlymounted in the head preferably it is detachable, being mounted on a shoeadapted to be placed over the lower face of the suction head and to besnapped into engagement therewith, so that a conventional suction headmay be converted from solid pick-up to liquid pickup by the simpleexpedient of applying the attachment thereto. Optionally, the attachmentmay have a forward extension for supporting a brush parallel to theblade. The brush is mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis so thatit may be disposed in a position for contact with the floor inconjunction with the blade, or rotated to an inoperative position sothat the blade may be used by itself.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference tothe accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevation of the lower part of the intake tube of a vacuumcleaner, showing the suction head in vertical section, with the liquidpick-up attachment applied to it;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the attachment removed from the head;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section taken on the line 33 of FIG.2;

FIG. 4 is a bottom View of the attachment;

FIG. 5 is a vertical section through a suction head with means builtinto it for the purpose of picking up liquid;

FIG. 6 is a top view of a modification of the attachment;

FIG. 7 is a bottom view of the modification; and

FIG. 8 is an elevation of a lower part of an intake tube of a vacuumcleaner, showing the suction head in section with the modifiedattachment applied thereto.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown (FIG. 1) the lower end of theintake tube 10 of a conventional vacuum cleaner having a suction head 12mounted on it. The head 12 extends transversely of the intake tube andhas a long, narrow uptake passage 14, defined by front and rear walls 16and 18, the lower end of which is open and is adapted to be supportedadjacent to the floor by runners 20 and 22, forwardly and rearwardlythereof. At its upper end the passage 14 has a lateral opening 24 intowhich the lower end of the intake tube 10 is removably secured.

The aforesaid suction head is suitable for picking up solid matter andto some extent will pick-up liquid, however, not without leaving tracesof liquid on the floor. To pick-up the liquid efiiciently, withoutleaving a trace, so that the floor is substantially dry, 9. blade 26 isused in conjunction with the suction head. The blade 26 may, as willappear hereinafter, be built into the head, however, in the preferredform of the invention it is part of an attachment 28, which may beapplied to the bottom side of the suction head to convert it frompicking up dust to picking up liquid. The attachment 28 is an elongate,substantially rectangular shoe 30 (FIGS. 2 and 4), having upstandingwalis 32 and 34 which engage respectively, the lower side of the runner20 and the rear edge of the runner 22 and intermediate downwardlyextending, spaced walls 36, 38 which define a narrow opening 39 situatedsubjacent the uptake passage 14 in the head. At the ends of the passage39 there are vertically disposed bearing elements 40, the transversewidth of which corresponds substantially to the front to back width ofthe uptake passage 14 and these bearing elements in conjunction with therear wall 34 are somewhat elastic and when forced into the open lowerend of the passage 14, over the shoulder of the runner 22, yieldablyhold the shoe in place. The bearing elements 40 contain verticallydisposed slots 44 and 46. The blade 26 has a rigid back 48, the oppositeends of which are disposed in the slots 44, the latter being made wideenough (FIG. 1), so that the blade can rock forwardly and rearwardlyabout its back within the slots 44. Nub-like projections 50 (FIG. 4), ofwhich there are two pairs near each end of the blade, extending towardeach other from the front and back walls 36 and 38 and, by engagementwith the lower edges of the back 48, hold the blade suspended within theopening 39. The elasticity of the walls 36 and 38 is such that, althoughthe space between the nubs 50 is less than the thickness of the bladeback 48, the blade may be thrust upwardly between them to mount it inplace and can be as easily removed. The slots 44 are vertically deeperthan the depth of the back 48 and hence the blade is movable verticallyWithin the slots 44. Spring arms 52 (FIG. 3) are fastened to the shoeand have at their ends downwardly extending fingers 54 which lie withinthe slots 46 and bear against the top side of the back 48, yieldablyholding the blade in its lowermost position against the projections 50.

The front and back walls are reinforced at their ends by webs 51, thelower portions of which. project slightly below the lower edges of thewalls, providing narrow supports 53 at the ends. Additional supports 55are provided intermediate the ends and these in conjunction with thesupports 53 serve to hold the mouth of the attachment ofl? the floorwhen the blade is removed.

The blade preferably is a flexible material such as rubber or plastic,however, it may be substantially rigid so that deflection forwardly andrearwardly with movement of the apparatus takes place solely because ofthe pivotal mounting of the back of the blade. Whether the blade flexesor pivots it always moves in a direction 'opposite to the direction ofmovement of the head, so

that it acts as a squeegee picking up and pushing the liquid ahead ofit, in a position to be sucked up into the mouth of the uptake passageabove it. By locating the blade midway between the front and back wallsof the opening, it is equally effective in either direction. It is alsoto be observed that the liquid is picked up at the leading side of theblade and that the suction is most effective at this side since theopposite side is partially closed by the deflection of the blade.

As indicated above, instead of mounting the blade as an attachment thesuction head itself may have built into it a blade, as shown in FIG. 5,by providing suitable bearings at the oposite ends of its uptake passage14, such as the bearings 40 described above, and mounting the back ofthe blade 48 within the bearings for pivotal movement forwardly andrearwardly and, if desired, for vertical movement therein.

A modification of the attachment is shown in FIGS. 6 to 8 inclusive, inwhich in addition to the blade 26 there is a brush 56. As describedabove, the blade '26 is supported by a shoe 28 having upwardly extendingwalls 32, 34 which span the bottom side of the suction head 12, in thisinstance seating against the front runner and against the head,rearwardly of the rear runner 22. Resilient latch members 58, of whichthere are three, one at the rear and two at the front integral with thewalls, hold the attachment in place by engagement with the front andrear edges of the suction head, as shown in FIG. 8. The shoe hasdownwardly projecting, spaced front and rear walls 36 and 38, betweenwhich the blade 26 is supported in exactly the same fashion as describedabove.

At the rear side of the shoe there extends a brush housing 69 having atits ends bearings 61 for supporting a horizontal shaft 62, to which thebrush S6 is fastened. A lever 66 is fastened to the shaft 62 near oneend and projects from the housing through a slot 68 (FIG. 6), portionsof which are situated in the top and side walls of the housing so thatthe lever may be rocked from the position shown in FIG. 8 in full linesto the dotted line position and, by such rocking, to rotate the brushfrom full line position in contact with the floor to the dotted lineposition elevated from the floor close to the underside of the housing.A spring 68 on the shaft biases it in a direction to hold the lever 66engaged with- V in lateral notches at either end of the slot 68 to holdthe brush locked in either position.

When the brush is in contact with the floor the apparatus may be usedfor scrubbing purposes in conjunction with the blade. For completepick-up of liquid from the floor, however, after thorough scrubbing hasbeen effected, the brush is elevated to its inoperative position so thatthe blade may be used by itself to insure pick-up of the liquid withouttrace of moisture such as would be left by the brush tracking over thefloor if not moved to it inoperative position.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purposeof illustration only and that this invention includes all modificationsand equivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with the suction head of a vacuum cleaner which has asubstantially flat sole plate containing a narrow elongate openingadapted to be connected to a vacuum cleaner hose; a shoe having a bottomwall and upwardly projecting side and end walls, said bottom wallcontaining a narrow elongate slot defined by spaced, downwardlyprojecting lips, means holding the shoe with the side and end wallsengaged with the sole plate of the nozzle SO that the bottom wall isspaced therefrom and provides, in combination therewith, a chambersubjacent the sole plate and so that the elongate slot in the shoe isvertically subjacent the elongate opening in the sole plate, a thinnarrow blade having a stiff back and a flexible edge, means on the shoesupporting the blade within the slot between the downwardly projectinglips for vertical movement therein, means yieldably holding the bladewith its flexible edge projecting from the lips, said blade beingmovable upwardly into the chamber, by engagement of its .flexible edgewith the floor, to clear the back of the blade of the slot, anddownwardly projecting ribs at the ends of the shoe for supporting thelower edges of the downwardly projecting lips above the floor when theblade is removed.

2. In combination with the suction head of a vacuum cleaner which has asubstantially flat sole plate containing a narrow elongate openingadapted to be connected with a vacuum cleaner hose; a shoe having abottom wall and upwardly projecting side and end walls, said bottom wallcontaining a narrow elongate slot defined by spaced, downwardlyprojecting lips, yieldable latch members on the shoe engaged with thesole plate operating to hold the shoe with the side and end wallsengaged with the sole plate so that the bottom wall is spaced therefromand provides, in combination therewith, a chamber subjacent the soleplate, and so that the elongate slot in the shoe is vertically subjacentthe elongate opening in the sole plate, bearing elements integral withthe shoe projecting upwardly from the ends of the slot therein into theopening in the sole plate, said bearing elements containing verticallydisposed slots, a thin flexible blade having a stiff back and flexiblelower edge, trunnions at the ends of the back engaged within the slotsin the bearing elements and sup porting the blade in the slot betweensaid spaced parallel, downwardly projecting lips, said trunnions beingmovable vertically within the bearing slots, and said slots in thebearing elements being long enough to permit the blade to rise upwardlyinto the chamber above the slot in the bottom wall of the shoe so thatthe back of the blade clears the slot in the bottom wall, said backhaving a greater transverse thickness than the flexible edge, nubsprojecting from the lips into the opening beneath the lower edge of theback, and a spring having arms bearing against the back of the blade,but unattached thereto, pressing the blade downwardly so that the loweredge of the back is held against the nubs, the downwardly projectinglips being elastically displaceable, and the lower ends of the bearingslots being open so that the blade may be removed by spreading the lipsapart suificiently to clear the nubs of the back.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

